Arne Slot and Eddie Howe are preparing to fight in the Premier League and Champions League next season
Liverpool and Newcastle are both gearing up for Champions League challenges next season but under rather different circumstances with Arne Slot able to loosen the purse strings and chase some of the best players in Europe while Eddie Howe is choked by Profit and Sustainability Rules (PSR) restrictions.
Mikel Arteta’s need at left-wing is even greater than Slot’s and the Gunners are ready to splash the cash after enduring a quiet 2024/25 season in the transfer market like Liverpool, looking to combine Gordon with Bukayo Saka and expected new striker Benjamin Sesko in an all-star front three.
But Slot may have a secret weapon to beat the Gunners to Gordon as a swap deal of Cody Gakpo plus cash for the 2023/24 Newcastle Player of the Year could satisfy all parties.
Gordon the perfect complement to Wirtz for Liverpool
Gordon’s come a long way since leaving Merseyside to join Newcastle, when the Magpies were ridiculed for splashing £45m on a player who was most famous for looking like Clare Balding, had only made 15 goal contributions in 78 matches for Everton and failed to even make an impression on loan in the Championship with Preston North End.
But Gordon proved all the doubters wrong by scoring 11 goals and assisting 15 in a breakout 2023/24 season that saw him called up to Gareth Southgate’s Euro 2024 squad and now a staple with the Three Lions, the Liverpool fan could be ready to meet with destiny and move to Anfield.
Liverpool are chasing a striker this summer as Slot looks to move away from having two primarily goalscoring wingers - Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane have both netted over twice as many as they’ve created in the Premier League - and while the Egyptian isn’t going anywhere fast the Reds would benefit from having a more creative spark on the left flank than Gakpo.
While he scored nine goals to 12 assists in his final campaign at PSV, Gakpo has been much more of a goal threat since heading to Merseyside and that simply isn’t the profile of left-winger that will suit Liverpool best as Slot places his own imprint on the team.
Gordon will provide a much more balanced creative option on the left flank and his Swiss Army Knife ability to set up chances in the box - and score them himself - by any means should dovetail wonderfully with Wirtz as the German dances around the final third tying the opposition into knots with his movement and short-passing interplay.
He ranks in the top 15% of wingers in the Premier League for passes into the penalty area and the top 7% for crosses, and while his dribbling stats don’t jump off the page he’s one of the most fouled attackers in Europe and possesses the pace to detonate any team on the counterattack.
Dual-threat Gakpo can solve two problems for Newcastle
Obviously Newcastle would need a left-winger to replace Gordon, but they’re also hunting a striker to back up, rotate with and provide competition for Isak given Callum Wilson’s decline. Gakpo could do both.
He fits the bill perfectly having pushed his goal tally into double figures in his two full seasons at Anfield and with his proven ability to create chances too. Gakpo averaged a goal contribution almost every 90 minutes in his coming-of-age 2021/22 season at PSV - as his pace, physicality and stratospheric football IQ wreaking havoc on the Eredivisie.
And with Newcastle still haunted by their injury crisis last time they ventured into the Champions League, Gakpo’s bulletproof build is also a major plus point - he’s missed just five games through injury in his Liverpool career. Liverpool want €100m (£84m) for Gapko having signed him for £37m, but amid decidedly cool interest it’s thought they’d accept a bid of €70m-€80m (£59m-£67m) and Bayern Munich are one of the interested parties after Leroy Sane departed for Galatasaray.
So sending Gakpo plus £20m to Newcastle would be another major step to Liverpool entering next season with a genuinely world class-starting XI, featuring a midfield and attack that would something like Ryan Gravenberch, Alexis Mac Allister, Wirtz, Salah, Joao Pedro and Gordon without forcing Slot to break the bank once again.
Meanwhile Newcastle would pick up a Premier League-proven player would could slot into their starting XI in two positions and hugely slacken their PSR strain while providing a healthy sum with which to chase an upgrade to their back-line.
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